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If you live in an Apartment, where is your "painting bay"? What is a good idea for one.

I live in a ground level floor, 2 bedroom with my Fiance and my 7 year old son. No extra rooms, and I dont even have my own little 'niche' carved out for painting. (my hobby-kit is mobile) I have a back porch that is essentially unused but I dont know if airbrushing outside is a good idea.

I was thinking of hollowing out an interior closet as a painting niche, but I'm sure its not a fabulous idea for air-brushing. I've got a closet that is about 5 feet by 4 feet that is outside on my porch. Right now its loaded with junk (storage) I was thinking about getting rid of all the garbage and making it an airbrushing/painting station. Not too good for wintertime though.

Mine's in the bathroom, over the bath (I also have a separate shower) with heavy duty plastic sheet duct-taped to the walls to prevent overspray.
Not good if living with a fiance & 7 year old though, me thinks

Nothing wrong with airbrushing on the porch. Grab a cheap table at a yard sale or the local hardware store and your GtG. The natural light will even help you with certain blending and color applications. If you want to get REALLY fancy, a portable spray booth can be purchased from online vendors for 150 or so.

Andrewdrexler wrote:Nothing wrong with airbrushing on the porch. Grab a cheap table at a yard sale or the local hardware store and your GtG. The natural light will even help you with certain blending and color applications. If you want to get REALLY fancy, a portable spray booth can be purchased from online vendors for 150 or so.

I bought a cheap used 1ft high table with folding legs from a recycle shop (you could probably find something at a garage sale) and reused an old box to make a painting booth. Then I found where my apartment's external outlets are. As long as it's not stupidly humid or frigid, it suits me just fine. And when finished all the components can be folded up and stored easily.

I airbrush indoors without any problems. Even the compressor (which sounds really loud when you're sitting next to it at 2AM) can barely be heard in the next room with the door closed.

I don't use any solvents beyond airbrush cleaner which is fairly mild and if you're using acrylics there's no need for anything beyond that.

Get an old bath towel or bedsheet as any overspray does get airbourne and travels further than you would think - and take it outside to shake it out.

If you are going with the closet do at least get a dust mask as in a small space like that the overspray will have nowhere much to go.

For me, in a student house, there's no problem just using the kitchen table: I never make a mess because I lay down newspaper and the compressor isn't on long enough to be irritating if I'm just doing a couple of tanks.

BloodQuest wrote:I airbrush indoors without any problems. Even the compressor (which sounds really loud when you're sitting next to it at 2AM) can barely be heard in the next room with the door closed.

I don't use any solvents beyond airbrush cleaner which is fairly mild and if you're using acrylics there's no need for anything beyond that.

Get an old bath towel or bedsheet as any overspray does get airbourne and travels further than you would think - and take it outside to shake it out.

If you are going with the closet do at least get a dust mask as in a small space like that the overspray will have nowhere much to go.

I airbrush indoors exclusively without any issue as well. If I am doing a serious clean with badger solvent I might spray out the window however but otherwise I am using all acrylics... I wear a dust mask and goggles but the airbrush is pretty precise; you don't need any spray box or anything. It's not like using aerosol cans.

I watched some of the old Geoff Iffsley Airbrush videos and he was painting with enamels and oils all in his little studio with no mask or anything. It is a precise instrument but I think perhaps he was a little bit careless when using enamels (imo).